Jacob's Well Natural Area

The spring punches straight down through the bed of Cypress Creek — a 12-foot-diameter mouth descending vertically about 30 feet, then angling through silted chambers to an average depth of 120 feet. Nine divers died here between 1964 and 1984. Only permitted cave diving researchers go below now. The spring itself has stopped flowing multiple times in recent decades, and swimming is currently suspended due to low aquifer levels. Hays County purchased the land in 2010 to protect it from development. Come for the trails and the geology lesson — not the swim.